THE MOLE CRICKET. 



THE CRICKETS 



THE FIELD CRICKET THE MOLE CRICKET 

 THE HOUSE CRICKET 



By DOUGLAS ENGLISH, B.A., F.R.P.S. 



With Photographs by the Author 



THE Crickets, who are represented 

 by four species in this country, 

 present features of such interest 

 and novelty that it is hard to account for 

 the indifferent attention which they have 

 received from British authors. Little has 

 been added to our knowledge of their life 

 habits since White, of Selborne, wrote of 

 them in 1778. He devoted three letters to 

 a description of the three species known 

 to him, and would no doubt have added 

 a fourth had he been acquainted with the 

 scarce W'ocxl Cricket. These letters (XLVI. 

 — XLVni.), which are written with char- 

 acteristic simplicity and directness, give 

 one the impression that the Field Cricket, 

 Mole Cricket, and House Cricket were in 



White's time comparatively common in 

 the neighbourhood of Selborne. It is 

 true that of the Field Cricket he says, 

 "Though frequent in these parts it is by 

 no means a common insect in many 

 countries," but he makes no comment on 

 the distribution of the Mole and the 

 House Crickets beyond noting that the 

 latter resides " altogether within our 

 dwellings," and that the former often 

 " infests gardens by the sides of canals." 

 That White took great interest in the 

 Field Cricket is shown by the fact that 

 he made more than one ineffectual 

 attempt to transplant individuals from 

 " Short Lithe " to his own garden ; he 

 had excellent reasons for preferring 



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